Samantha's Dream
by What Does The Faux Say
Summary: Danny has to delve into Sam Manson's dreams to free her from Nocturne's eternal sleep, but he may be surprised— not to mention, excited— by what he finds there... IF he can discern the identity of the dream's mysterious 'Spider Queen'.
1. Samantha's Dream

_"Ow!"_ said Tucker, pulling his hand away from the sleeping form of Sam Manson. He was still coming to terms with the fact that the _entire population_ of Amity Park was trapped in dreams by a ghost none of Team Phantom had ever heard of.

"Whoops, probably should have told you about that," said Danny, climbing in Sam's window. "My bad." He stared down at Sam, at the arcing dream helmet on her head. "Don't touch anything else. Now that I know how to do this, it'll only take a second!"

Placing his hand on Sam's chin, Danny let himself be pulled into her mind.

He found... devastation.

* * *

Danny appeared, floating over a landscape torn by glowing purple vines. A little ways away, a sign said, "WELCOME TO A- PARK: A S- P-ACE TO LIVE", as it was slowly overgrown.  
Beyond the signs, Danny could see the city of Amity Park. For the most part, it was deserted; the skyscrapers lay empty, or deconstructed. It _did_ look more like a luminescent park, if the plants in most parks had spikes.

In the distance, though... there was a castle. A towering edifice constructed of the debris of the fallen city, reaching into the sky like a mass of sharp rocks.  
_Sam must have had her dreams invaded by... something,_ Danny realized. _I don't know what it is, but it's gotta be in that castle!_  
He flew there as fast as he could, skimming over dream-miles of vacant city.

Near the castle, the 'park' wasn't completely uninhabited. A host of creepy-crawlies, many of them glowing darkly, lived in the forest nearby. Giant snakes and spiders were just a few of the many kinds; Danny rose to avoid a small flight of bats, orbiting around the castle.  
_They're all running patrols,_ Danny realized.  
Strangely, the bats didn't seem hostile to him. Ignoring them, Danny flew through a window of the twisted castle.

The edifice's halls were upholstered in rich, dark colors. They were lit by luminescent stripes, providing the perfect balance of light and shadow. Black doors stood monolithically at intervals. Danny chose one, and opened it.  
Inside, there was a dragon.

It was a small dragon, but it still looked deadly. The scaly beast stood on eight legs, its long neck focused on a girl in the far corner of the room— Paulina!  
Paulina crawled backwards, her shirt splattered with the dragon's drool. The beast sniffed, experimentally exhaling a puff of flame; Paulina shrieked and retreated further, to where there was a low pool of water.  
As the dragon began to blow fire more quickly, Paulina pressed herself into the pool, but it wasn't enough; the pool was too... shallow.

Danny sprang into action. Flying at Paulina, he pushed himself and... passed through her, smacking into the lip of the pool and tumbling to hit the wall.  
_What the heck?!_  
The dragon made a rhythmic snorting sound; it took a second for Danny to realize it was laughing at him.  
"Hey!" he said, firing an ectoblast at the scaly menace; it passed through just like he'd flown through Paulina, bouncing off the opposite wall and missing him by 3 inches.  
_This is some sort of illusion,_ Danny realized.

"Danny!" said Paulina, turning towards him and reaching out her hand. If it was an illusion, it seemed able to react to Danny's presence. "You have to help me! The Spider Queen—"  
She stopped, trying to dodge another salvo from the dragon.

_If I was an invasive 'Spider Queen' who set all this up, where would I be hiding?_ Danny thought. As he was trying to brainstorm, the top of the room caught his eye: there was a narrow viewing balcony that overlooked the room with Paulina and the dragon. Pushing himself upward, Danny careened through a set of glass doors at the top and crashed into an ornate room on the other side.

It was the Spider Queen's throne room.

The room was dim, interspersing purple and black with artful mood lighting. In the center of the room was an intricately carved throne, and beside it...  
_was a shade of Danny Fenton._

The boy sat next to the throne, staring up beside it. He looked like... Danny himself, wearing his familiar red-and-white T-shirt and blue jeans. A thin purple chain, with a filigree spiderweb design, bound "Danny" to the throne by a cuff on his arm.  
For some reason, Danny couldn't help noticing that the handcuff was padded with plush purple cloth.  
And Danny's double was staring adoringly up at the throne...

He hadn't seen the Spider Queen at first, but the lighting shifted, revealing her. She sat on the throne, wearing a many-jointed white dress that looked like an exoskeleton; it had little limbs, which were constantly in motion, and deep black bulbous eyes. As she sat, her white boots gave the appearance of a pair of spider's legs; the three pairs carved beside her on the throne combined to make the full set of eight.  
She was holding the other end of "Danny"'s chain, looped around her wrist.

Her face was hidden in shadow, but Danny could _just_ tell she was smiling.

"Spider Queen," Danny said, steeling himself, "You need to get out of Sam's mind!"  
He flew at the Queen— and stopped in midair; he couldn't go any farther, and when he tried to pull his arms in, they wouldn't move.

It took him a second to realize what had happened, as the illumination shifted: he was caught in a web. A sticky, taut web, strands thinner than gossamer, unbreakable— a web previously concealed by the careful lighting.  
The Spider Queen smiled, getting up from her throne. Taking her time, she walked over to Danny, dress's limbs twisting, Danny's chained copy following behind her. She stayed half-in-shadow as she walked, a beautiful mystery, slowly approaching. She was close; the 'eyes' on her dress lit, and pulsed with inner light, as the dress's legs reached out to caress Danny where he floated in the web.

He was close enough to see her face, or what he could. There was a pair of piercing purple eyes— and the rest was hidden behind a blank white half mask, with no pattern. When she spoke, her voice was almost familiar, mixed in with a chitinous hiss.

"I knew you'd come," she said. "You always like to... _meddle..._ with things."

Danny grunted, trying to free himself from the web. It stuck to him no matter what he tried, even if he went intangible. "That's because you were causing trouble first! *oof*"

"Oh?" the Queen said, putting one white-gloved hand on her chin. "Just... how... was I _causing trouble?"_  
She was smiling again.

"You broke into my friend's mind!" Danny said, still struggling. "Let me— _go,_ and—"

"Is that so," the Queen said. "And all I had to do was set up one little web, and the great Danny Phantom falls riiiight into it."

"—and get away from her!" Danny finished. "Wait, where is Sam, anyway? What have you done with her?!"

"Don't worry," said the Queen, taking a step closer to Danny. "She's riiiiiiight here." She patted her stomach.

"Y-you—" Danny couldn't believe his ears. "You ate her?!" He was breathing faster now. "You come into my friend's head, set up this freaking castle, take over her dreams and now you ate her?! If you don't get out of here _right now—"_  
He stopped, breathing in, ready to give the shout that would end everything.  
"I wouldn't do that, Danny," said the Spider Queen. Danny stopped for a second, at the sound of his name.

The Queen reached out one hand to touch Danny's cheek... and with the other, took off her mask and stopped the necklace that had changed her voice.  
"Now what," said the Spider Queen, Sam Manson, "_ever_ made you think I had taken over my own dream?"

Danny stopped, mouth open. He didn't even struggle. Sam was...?!  
It made sense, he slowly realized. The creatures outside the castle hadn't attacked him. The castle had a decidedly gloomy aesthetic in his friend's favorite color. And if _anyone_ had a balcony just so they could watch Paulina squirm, it would be Sam.  
"Why...?" he said.  
"It was fun," replied Sam. She smiled a little smile.

There was that, too.

"So... what now?" asked Danny. He was still stuck in the web; the situation was starting to seem a bit silly.  
Sam looked at him, briefly holding the mask in front of her face.  
"That," she said, "is up to you."

Danny suddenly noticed he and his clone were both blushing; with the dress, Sam looked... mythical. Heat rose inside him; the web seemed to loosen.  
As he leaned forward, he noticed Sam and his double were all doing the same.

* * *

Tucker looked up and grinned when Sam sat up and Danny came catapulting out of her.  
"That must have been some dream!" he said, putting his handheld game away.

Danny and Sam looked in the opposite direction from one another, both reddening a little.  
"I, uh, don't remember it..."  
"I didn't see anything!"  
Tucker shrugged and gave up; the two moved on to saving the rest of Amity Park.  
Later, though, Sam had a quiet question.

"Um, Danny... have you mastered duplication yet?"  
Danny's brilliant blush was all the answer she needed.


	2. Bonus Scene

**Bonus Scene**

"...and they've got web shooters like in Spider-Man," said Sam, demonstrating by firing web from her gloves at Danny's wrist. The sticky line wrapped around his wrist, pinning it to the throne.

"...just what kind of company were you _expecting?!_" said Danny, trying to pull his wrist free without success.

Sam grinned, switching her necklace back on for an extra burst of Spider Queen voice.  
"You, Danny Phantom."


End file.
